Trying to help DD make a decision - any ideas?

Kings College London or Bristol University for Pharmacology - any thoughts?

DD has unconditional offers for both plus music scholarship for Bristol.

We have gone round and round in circles debating every aspect we can think of (costs, location, course content, accommodation, employability, year in industry, extracurricular music) and she can't make a decision. Anyone able to offer any insights?

Friend's DS is at KCL for Medicine, he likes it ok but it's absolutely huge, and quite impersonal. Also, high proportion of the students are from London and seem to live at home, so maybe creates less chance to "bond" with other freshers, compared with somewhere where everyone's in halls? That's only anecdotal though, and obviously both Unis are highly regarded, so she probably can't go too far wrong!

Dd at another London uni and has friends at KCL (though the rivalry is fierce KCL students even stole their founder, who is stuffed and used to sit in on board meetings....) The are having just as much fun as DD and friends. Medics everywhere lead a slightly different life, the workload and long hours and later the demands of hospital life tend to segregate them.

For info DD was in a central London hall in the first year but has been in flats 2 or 3 tube stops out since, rent is £550 a month which is fairly standard. Her flats haven't been in supersalubrious areas but not rough either and they have loved their student life there. No shortage of student flats. Groups of students from the same unis tend to congregate in particular areas. There has been a shift of London student life south and east. There is so much on offer in the capital, cultural as well as clubbing, with cheap student deals. DD thinks she would have been bored elsewhere (probably not, her friends in Bristol are having a good time too)

Everyone I've met who have had a great time at a London uni have their parents paying their rent, leaving the maintenance loan for fun and frolics- or on full grant, bursary and max loan to play with.

Everyone else stuck in the middle with a loan that just covers the rent and a token 20 quid from mum and dad have had a miserable time once the savings have ran out and they're living off pasta and passata.

Bristol is a brilliant university, and brilliant city with cheap nights out, cheaper rents and so much to do. Although its a civic uni like KCL, it's a more close knit community and less 'spaced out'.

However, one thing that isn't quite so obvious to an 'outsider' is that people at London universities tend to live some distance away from the university, because most people can't afford to rent in Central London. However, people do not tend to congregate in one area to the extent that they do elsewhere, so you lose the 'student village' feel that you get in student areas of other cities. Students in Bristol are quite lucky - they tend to congregate around the Clifton / Redland / Cotham areas, all of which are quite desirable areas.

Parma I disagree we do pay DDs rent but so do most of her friends whatever uni they went to but DD has two friends whose parents cannot contribute and are on maintenance grants, which at her uni seems to automatically qualify you for a bursary, and they not only have a good time alongside DD but save, and of course they have tele, gaming machines etc. . One of the things DD has enjoyed about where her flat is this year is that a lot of student friends have congregated there and they are just two stops on the tube from uni.

Wow- what fab choices!DD went to Bristol. Absolutely loved it, IMO it suits quite a different type of person to KCL. Its a vibrant but more enclosed city than london with definite student filled areas. Lots of fun but also work them hard. The student population isnt terribly diverse, it has one of the fewest % of international students of all unis- and especially compared to london unis -- so something to consider what type of atmosphere would suit your DD, does she easily click with people more diverse from herself?

DD got a grad job in london and is now enjoying the london lifestyle. She used to be jealous of her friend at KCL who seems to have the city at their fingertips and be super confident and more mature in many ways a lot earlier- I think london promotes independence. But DD soon caught up and it has made no difference whatsoever in the log run.

Go back to both this holidays and explore, look at the accommodation options- it is such a big thing for successfully settling. DD has halls 40 mins from Bristol uni but there is now a very frequent bus service from the halls to lectures.

We are fairly local to london and DD liked having a very different and quite far away city of her own which she called home and knew well. Other DD at durham feels the same.

That's useful to know, going. I bought him a bus pass when he was there and he didn't use it once because no one else did and he liked the sociability of the group walk. If everyone does it, I'm sure they'll all do it.

And I should point out to the OP that there are loads of halls closer into town too - not all the accomm is at the top of the hill......

And to reiterate, DS loved it there. Especially years 2 and 3 where everyone lived in houses in Cotham hill just around the corner from each other and 10 mins from the labs.

Exactly Cop- 'Everyone I've met who have had a great time at a London uni have their parents paying their rent, leaving the maintenance loan for fun and frolics- or on full grant, bursary and max loan to play with.'

I know everyone laughs about students being skint- but now we are living in a time where grants have been done away with, there is a lot of difference between students financially. Lots of my friends who are at London unis (I am a student myself) are having a pretty miserable time as they're too rich for a bursary, but their parents can't contribute either. This means working all hours or literally living in poverty. It's not fun.

You do honestly need to look at what you can afford and where she'd be better off. I'm from Bristol myself and know that cheap student rents (70 pw) do exist there and there are a ton of fun cheap student nights.